What about the little dudes?

An adult interlude ...

Results for previous entry Adult food were quite satisfactory. Couscous is a lovely stuffing medium, and the combination of lime and dried fruit works very well. A jar of whole spice garam masala should be placed along side of my Good old standbys of a previous post. The rice was yum and well received. Relief!

Adult conversation turned (inevitably) to feeding kids.

My most intensive cooking time for my boys (until bachelorism, where cooking is making a comeback) was from late nappies to kindy - them, not me.

Rule 1: Size matters
Rule 2: Time matters
Rule 3: What matters, matters

The most important thing you can teach a child about food, is how to eat something they don’t particularly like.

Size matters

This is so easy to forget. We see it every day. But children are ... small.

Some children of course will just eat what’s put in front of them. They feel hunger strongly and will only complain if what you dish up is truly disgusting. Most, though, find mealtime a challenge for various reasons. Back to size.

Place your hand, fingers stretched out, on the kitchen bench. That is about a meal. A little less than a meal maybe, but in the general neighbourhood. Now think of how much smaller a four-year-old's hand is compared to yours.

For a little dude about 1 metre high, an adult size serve of food looks like a sack of potatoes. Even if they know they can eat it, it just looks … big!

Time matters

I remember a friend remarking on her beloved grandmother’s perception of time passing. She was so used to it, time slipping by: “it’s like, every 15 minutes, you’re having breakfast again”.

It takes time to learn about time. For children, a week is a month, a day is a week. Five minutes is an hour.

Put something in front of them that they know will take half an hour to eat … it’s not so much the food, it’s getting their heads around anything that can take so long.

For both rule 1 and 2, my advice is think small. By all means, cook what you think they’ll eat. But don’t serve what you think they’ll eat. Serve them half first, and let them eat it, and achieve it. Let them take a break, leave their seats, see if the rain has stopped or what the sunset looks like, then come back to the table and have a second helping.

What matters, matters

The most important thing you can teach a child about food, is how to eat something they don’t particularly like.

This is something that “cooking for children” books don’t tell you, because all of their recipes are so great that any child will love it (unless you’ve been a bad parent, which you probably have been…).

Managing likes and dislikes is exactly the same as managing emotions. A huge amount (possibly the full helping) of growing up is about finding a way to distinguish between minor and major catastrophies - can you be the judge?

It is important to recognise that kids have a right to likes and dislikes. It’s also good to teach them to make decisions and judgements. Their likes and dislikes really matter to them, and they should really matter to you. It’s also important for children to learn that not every dislike is a game-breaker.

If there is a plate of food that contains stuff your child likes and stuff your child doesn’t, you can say: Which is the stuff you will eat all of, which is the stuff you will eat some of, which is the stuff you will eat a tiny bit of…? If they make these decisions easily, good. If they are really stuck, you can offer them something on the plate that they don’t have to eat at all, provided they eat more of something else. You just need to be giving them healthy options.

Conclusion

The most important of these is - What matters, matters. Learn from your child, and your child will learn from you.

Adult food!

Cooking for adults

At last the spice cabinet comes out. I have discovered a wonderful Indian spice shop close by - you know the kind, DVDs, rice sacks, and lots of whole spices in plastic bags sealed with a staple. Fresh curry leaves too!

I have chicken stock in the freezer, so I’m thinking: the bird!

I want a roast chicken, but also want some aspects of the Malaysian staple (get it?) chicken rice.

Here’s the plan.

Roast chicken with stuffing

Stuffing

• couscous
• pan-browned rice, cracked in a mortar
• buised cardamon
• lime wedges

Rice

Steamed with chicken stock and whole-spice garam masala

Roast Veggies

• Spanish onion
• Baby carrots
• Garlic
• Cayenne chilies

Finely slice bok choy, blanch and sprinkle over the top last

I’m thinking, little cupped rice mounds, all neat and prissy, with chaos of bird bits, veggies and bok choy.

Bring on the grown-ups. Wish me luck!

Golden and crunchy

Guess what we're having for dinner? Two guaranteed to get a yay and a victory fist pump from my boys is cottage pie, and lemon-seasoned fish fingers.

Tonight I made cottage pie (I generally do it with cubed chuck steak, but this time, on request because we hadn't had it for a while, I used the traditional lamb mince).

Last week, though, I wheeled out a favourite from their preschool days. Lemon-seasoned fish fingers.

Two things the meals have in common is they're golden and crunchy. The lovely mashed potato with bread crumbs and grated parmesan from the oven, or the seasoned bread crumbs from the wok.

I like to give my kids fish once a week, but they're not mad keen on it. They'll eat it, but you have to ride 'em a little. Not with this meal though.

Recipe: Lemon-seasoned fish fingers

Ingredients

• 1 cup bread crumbs
• .75 kilograms boneless fish fillets (orange roughy is perfect, ling is also very good. I prefer orange roughy because of the texture, its more sustainable fishing status, and because it's a member of the slimehead family)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 2 cups canola oil

Method

Combine bread crumbs, lemon zest, salt and garam masal. Spread this out evenly on a dinner plate.
Beat eggs in a bowl
Slice fish fillets into thickish fingers
Dip the fish fingers into the egg, then roll them in the bread crumbs so they have a nice even covering
In a wok for frying pan, bring oil to a high heat just before smoking
Deep fry three or four fish fingers at a time until they are golden brown (texture like sun)

Serve with steamed rice and stir-fried or steamed vegetables.

This is one of those meals that has something for both kids and adults. I found it a good way of introducing my boys to some new flavours. It's also fun to make, with a little fish finger production line, with someone dipping the fish in the egg, someone rolling the fish in the crumbs, someone laying it out neatly ready to be fried.

Another key to gradually expanding children's taste boundaries is condiments and sides. Children can find a big, busy plate quite confusing and daunting... but that is another blog post I think.

Taking stock

There's nothing like making stock for taking stock.

On a rainy Sunday, and my boys returned to their other home, it's time to prepare for when they're back again.

Yesterday I used my trusty slow cooker to make for my boys and me, chicken and tomato rice. I like to buy a whole, chemical free chicken (don't you love it when they are labelled "chemically free"?) and cut it in pieces myself. It makes me feel like Kitchen Man.

Here's the technique I follow. Note, that the chicken back is retained for later stock making.

The exception to this method the way I do it, is that I keep the bone and gristle on the breast, and cut the breast halves across the bone, so that the breast is quartered. That way you get 10 evenly sized pieces.

As this is more about the stock, I'll whiz over the chicken casserole, except to say that it's made with my good old standby tomato salsa, and that about 1 hour before you want to eat, you pull out all the solid ingredients with a slotted spoon, and pour in enough medium grain rice so that there is only a fingertip of liquid above the rice layer. Then place the solid ingredients back and re-cover.

My freezer bag was now full of chicken backs, ready for taking stock and making stock on a rainy Sydney Sunday. Here goes.

Recipe: Chicken stock

Yields 11 cups stock.

Ingredients

• About 1kg chicken pieces
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 leek
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 pepper corns
• 4 tablespoons canola or olive oil
• 2 litres water

Method

• Preheat oven to 200º
• Roughly chop the veggies, and put everything (except the water!) in a roasting pan and into the oven for 30 minutes
• Remove the contents to a large, heavy based pot
• Use some of the water to make sure you get all the bits and pieces (and flavours) from the roasting pan. Add this water and the rest to the stock pot
• Raise heat to full and bring to boil
• Drop heat back to a simmer
• Simmer for 2 hours, occasionally skimming off the brownish grey film that forms on the surface
• When the 2 hours is up, remove all the solid pieces (do not discard - these are your dinner, and just reward for an arvo of stock-making goodness. Once cool enough, strip off the good meat from the chicken bones, and put this with the tasty veggies. Fry up some ginger and chili in a pot, add the stock bits and some fish sauce. Add 2 cups of your stock and bring to boil, then add a handful of rice noodles - and there's your dinner. Yum!)
• Strain the stock (I use a mesh strainer lined with a paper towel). Strain twice.

I think storage amounts of 1.5 cups is most versatile.

These will keep in plastic containers in the freezer for several months. Make sure you put a date on the label or lid.

And there you have it. Lovely, healthy homemade chicken stock.

First destination? Malaysian chicken rice.

Favourite things

These are a few of my favourite things

Coddlers

By now you know I love to coddle. While this entry will be devoted more to the kitchen gear that has helped me most in transitioning, my little coddlers are things I discovered during my marriage and have brought with me into my new, downsized world.

They meet one of the most important criteria of bachelor food - scaleability. I currently have four one-egg coddlers. Cooking four eggs takes no extra time than cooking one, no extra cooktop space, and very little extra cleaning up. It is also very easy to manage different likes - more spicy, less spicy; harder, softer etc.
I had a very pleasant late breakfast this Sunday, with two slices of toast drizzled with olive oil (I use olive oil instead of butter in all my sandwiches etc - it tastes nicer, and its cholesterol is of the Good variety).

The eggs were flavoured with salt and sliced chili. Lovely and warm.

Now on to my bachelor purchases...

Rice steamer

This has been extremely handy, and takes the worry out of rice. I use basmati rice, as it has a fantastic flavour and has a good GI (Glycemic Index), 1 cup of rice with 1.5 water; 2 cups rice 3 cups water etc, etc...

Once it's done, it keeps the rice nice and warm and fluffy. Another big advantage for the down-sized is that it frees up cooktop space for my wok. And speaking of which...

Carbonized steel wok

You can get expensive stainless steel, or non-stick, ceramic coated etc versions of this, but why would you?

Here's how to properly season a wok. This is Poh's version, who has a lovely smile and a great set (bachelors can say these things). I did this on my gas barbecue with my boys one weekend, and it was great fun. And speaking of which...

Gas barbecue

I have a small courtyard - so there's a big BBQ in it. Because of this, I get more use out of the outdoor area. The same would go if I had only a small balcony (and a small BBQ). It gets me outside - and it cooks me great meals. There's not much you can't cook on a good BBQ, even dessert. I make a very tasty scorched fruit and icecream dessert which I'll get round to posting eventually.

Mostly, but not exclusively, barbecues are for quick, intense activity style cooking, pretty much the opposite of the slow cooker. And speaking of which...

Slow cooker
Like the rice cooker, the humble crockpot takes pressure of precious cook-top space. It is not so much a time-saving device as a time-distributing device.

Most roast and casserole meals should include browning the meat (and often the vegetables too) in a pan on a high heat, before consigning it to its slow cooked fate.

Slow cooking needs to be done over a whole day - for cook times five hours or less, don't bother - use a casserole dish or stewing pot. The slow-cookers best work happens between the 5 and 7 hour mark.

I have an oval shaped one rather than a circular, as it's more versatile, being able to handle roasts and joints etc.

Brisket roast - used, then rebranded

So many of the tastiest cuts of beef are the cheapest ones. With beef in particular, there is always a trade-off between tenderness and taste. Let me introduce you to the Brisket - one of the tastiest cuts of all, and cheap as cheap.
The point end brisket is what you ask the butcher for. Generally it's about 2 kilograms, but can be more. You want the whole thing - and it wants you.

What you get is a boneless slab of meat that, cooked long and low, makes the tastiest roast, with leftovers that make excellent sandwiches and rebranding.

This week's roast fed me and my two boys two main meals and two lunches. The second meal (which we ate last night) was a very successful piece of meal rebranding.

I have a slow cooker, which I love, and which uses much, much electricity than an oven. If you're using an oven, you will need a roasting pan with a good heavy lid that seals properly.

Recipe: Rolled roast brisket.

Ingredients

• Cooking string
• Tip end brisket
• Rosemary
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Lemons
• Garlic clove
• 2 Onions
• Half cup red wine
• Olive oil

Method

• Chop rosemary and combine with juice of one lemon, crushed garlic, salt, pepper and about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Rub the marinade onto the brisket all over.
• Cut three or four pieces of kitchen string about 30 cm each.
• To tie the rolled up beef, any old knot will do, but here is how you tie the very simple and handy butcher's knot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5mZD2kBEU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
• Place the beef flat on a tray or clean bench, and roll from the pointy end, with with the rough side of the beef in the inside of the roll. Tie with the lengths of string about 3 cm apart. Cover and place in fridge overnight. It's really good if you can marinate the beef, but even if you can't you will still have a beautiful tender roast.
• Preheat oven to 110 degrees.
• Peel and quater onions, leaving enough for the woody end above the roots to hold the onion together. Wash and quater the remaining lemon.
• Pour off excess marinade into a pan with extra olive oil. Bring pan to high heat and sear all around. Remove to a roasting pan (or place in your slow cooker). 
• Now sear the onion and lemon quarters. Place these in the pan too. Add wine to pan to pick up all the pan flavours, and pour into roasting tray (or slow cooker). Cook covered for 7 hours.

When I use my slow cooker, this leaves my oven free to roast the veggies in a conventional way. If you're using the oven to roast the beef, that's ok. Bring out the covered tray and let it rest, pop up the heat, roast your veggies, and by the time they are ready, your roast will be rested, warm, juicy, and ready to carve.

You will also have about 4 cups of very good beef stock. 1 cup for gravy, the rest for the freezer.

On Thursday I made this with roast potatoes, carrots, oinions, pumpkin and turnips. And some steamed silver-beet.

The boys weren't too keen on the turnip and would only eat one small piece each. Last night, they ate the rest.

Recipe rebranding

Last night I retrieved the leftover veggies (including leftover silver-beet) from the fridge, ready to do a little re-branding. I chopped and mashed them up and put them in a layer in a roasting dish. Diced the roast beef and collected the jelly juices, and placed them on top of the veggie layer. Covered it, and put it in the oven at 100 degrees.

While this was warming, I steamed 1 cup of basmati rice with 1.5 cups of water and .5 cup of my all purpose tomato salsa. In 45 minutes, the rice had absorbed the moisture, and the colour and flavour of the salsa.

Raised the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Removed the roasting dish, and place the rice in a thick layer on top. Popped it back in the oven to get nice and crunchy on top, which takes about 10 minutes.

Then it was ready to serve - a rich red-brown and crisp on top, and juicy and sweet in the middle.

The whole thing got eaten, including all that rejected turnip from the night before.

Re-heat or rebrand?

"Cook once, eat twice" is a truism of bachelor foodism. Personally, I find eating the same meal twice in a row a rather glum experience. But that's what the freezer is for, I hear you say. True. But a diet of frozen meals? Now we're back to glum.

What the freezer is really good for is sauces and stocks. Long live the good old standby! Long live it I say!

Last week my boys asked for pillow pasta, their preschool name for ravioli. With carrots and green beans in the crisper, and my all purpose tomato salsa in the freezer, it was worth a quick dash to the deli for a veal-stuffed version of one of their all time favourites.

(No, I am not so evolved as to make my own ravioli - but my time will come, oh yes. It will come.)

A little plastic punnet of tomato salsa is a pasta sauce, great with pan-fried fish fillets, a pizza topping (defrost it, roll the dough, and the kids will do the rest), and a very tasty addition to a pan of roast veggies. Or just as a condiment.

This is where rebranding comes in. Say I've got slices of beef and a plate of veggies left over from the previous night's roast roll of brisket? Steaming up some rice, stirring in 2 tablespoons of salsa, reheating the veggies in an oven proof bowl, topping with the rice them popping in the oven to brown the rice for a few minutes while you reheat the roast beef. Now we have last night's meal fresh and rebranded, and good to go.

So here it is, good old standby number one.

All purpose tomato salsa.
(Yields about 6 cups)

Ingredients

• 2 medium onion
• 1 clove garlic
• .5 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tin tomato
• 4 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon capers
• .5 cup vegetable stock
• .5 cup red wine
• pinch: oregano, pepper, salt

Method

1. Finely chop onions. In a sauce pan, heat oil on low heat. Add onions, minced garlic and pepper.
2. Sauté at least 10 minutes, more if you have the time.
3. Add the rest of the soft ingredients and bring to boil.
4. Simmer at least one hour, two is best. Stir every now and then, squishing the chunkier bits agains the side of the pan
5. Let cool at little, then push through strainer.

I have to admit that I don't always proceed through step 5. A little chunky or pureed, either way it's good.